New Mountain Bike Skills Park

Have you tried out the newest addition to Snow Mountain Ranch yet? The new progressive mountain bike skills park is fun, yet challenging for riders of all ages and abilities. The skills park is home to 37 features and is designed so that riders are able to improve their skills whether they go through all of the features, skip a few or even stick to just one feature.

The skills park has been a dream for a while, but Snow Mountain Ranch Nordic Director Bill Pierce, Trail Crew Leader Elliott Leslie, and their team made it a reality this summer. Leslie noted that, “getting to design and build the skills park has perhaps been the coolest thing I’ve ever built in my life, and I’m super proud of it.”

The skills park has almost everything that you might find on a trail in Grand County, including single track, balance features, wood features, small and large boulders, jumps and more, all contained within 1,500 linear feet. It provides an opportunity for everyone from the first-time mountain biker to the seasoned rider to take their skills to the next level in a controlled environment.

The Middle Park High School mountain bike team helped to break in the new park late last month, and in just 15 minutes, the team made huge improvements with some coaching and practice. It was also an opportunity for Leslie to note changes that needed to be made to make the park more effective.

Next year, keep an eye out for a children’s strider bike track, family mountain bike programming, instructional mountain bike classes and coaching clinics. In the meantime, there’s still time to get some skills practice in before winter begins. Plus, it’s a great way to work on your core strength, balance and coordination which will help you get ready for fat biking and Nordic skiing next month!